Nice & Noisy Merdeka Weekend

I had a nice and noisy weekend babysitting my 3 kids and my nephew. Three boys and my baby girl - definitely noise, noise and noise. Every half minute, there will be someone shouting one of the boys' name. My hubby had to work during this Merdeka weekend unfortunately. What I thought could have been a boring quiet long weekend was just the opposite. My mom and my nephew came to stay with us. My nephew is the same age as Raymund... so, imagine double whammy on Terrible Three!!

Well, I contributed to the noise pollution too, trying to discipline the boys .. if it ever works. But I had good fun. I really enjoyed the warmth and children's happy voices... as well as the boys' constant fight over toys. They sure had great fun! I myself got to tend to my little garden. I'm in the midst of changing my landscape. Hot and sweaty work but satisfying.

My son Ryan just threw tantrum - he wanted his 'poh poh' (grandma) and didn't want to go to school tomorrow. We decided to give way and let him have another day holiday.You'll never know where the kindie kids went over the school holiday and if their parents are considerate ...H1N1! In fact, I was even toying with the idea of stopping his kindie attendance altogether (until next year) and get his kindie teacher to prepare homework/materials so that I can coach him at home. I'll see how on this. I may do just that if the H1N1 situation worsen.

Back to work tomorrow. Sigh! How I wish we have 7-days weekends! Ha, ha! Dreaming big time!

My Beautiful Double Layer Hibiscus

I bought 2 young hibiscus plants. Was told that they are of the double layer hibiscus type - huge and beautiful. One of them is yellow and the other is red, I think. I have been waiting for them to bloom for yonks. However strong wind and weak stalks caused the baby buds to break a fall. Finally, one of them buds strived through the wrath of nature! I had a nice beautiful double layer hibiscus. Here is a picture. The lighting wasn't good as I took the photo at night. Too excited to wait. Anyway, each bloom will only last a day. A pity.

I love gardening. It's my newly discovered hobby since I shifted into my house. I love to see colours in the garden. More so, I'd like to see my plants grow through my care. It is very satisfying! I'm not a pro in gardening but I have been learning through trials and errors. The nursery where I get most of my stuff from, its owner, he is willing to teach me how to care for my plants and garden. Some would say that I have green fingers. I'd say, no such thing coz hardy cactus died in my hands in the earlier days. It is very much the case of acquiring knowledge and learning through trials and errors as with many things.

Vitamins and Supplements for my Kids

What with H1N1 still going on strongly ... death toll increasing... number of people affected rising... I can help but be very paranoid about it. Every time someone in my family contracted cough and flu, I get very worried about the possibility of H1N1 on my kids especially. The recent case about the death of a 3 year old baby due to H1N1 upset me badly. I can't imagine how his parents feel. There is nothing we can do about it but hope and pray that our kids and family are fine and healthy.

I'm now quite 'fanatic' :) about building my family esp my kids immunity. I've increased the dosage of Vitamin C for my family - I read on the web somewhere that vitamin C at a sufficient level would boost immunity. Strangely, some docs do not believe the wonders of Vitamin C. During my recent visit to a clinic, the doctor told me that it is just a belief that Vitamin C can boost immunity. A pediatrician also once shared the same view. After all my school education and so on, it is hard to stomach that. Anyway, no harm taking and I still believe vitamin C does help. We just have to remember to give them lots of water as these vitamins are quite heaty.

These are what my kids are taking now. I ran out of Vidaylin Mini Bear Gummies with Garden Vegetables when I took this picture. This is for replacement of fruits and vege which my kids don't frequently take. Here is a separate pix on it.

I just bought another supplement for my kids called Pureen Kids Chewable Milk Colostrum. My sons love it. If you are interested, check out this site about what it can do:http://www.ussummit.com.my/servlet/gateway?command=ShowcaseProductInfo&category=998443500143&id=1200513456408&catname=baby

Jumbo Triangular Pencils for Preschoolers

Here is something worth buying ...

Like his brother Ryan when Raymund first started writing, his fingers are not strong enough to hold a pencil properly. The grip on the pencil is not firm. And naturally, his hand tires easily. It is important to show him the right way to hold a pencil. If it still doesn't work, I'm getting him to use a training pencil which is bigger and triangular in shape.

I have used these jumbo triangle pencils for Ryan. It was recommended by Ryan's kindergarten principal when Ryan was still brushing up his fine motor skills. These triangular pencils are ideal for all early writing and drawing activities and for children with fine motor difficulties because the triangular shape enables them to hold the pencil using the correct grip.

There are many brands and sizes out there. Get the bigger/thicker ones for toddlers first. I got for my kids this pack that comes with a pencil sharper for jumbo triangular pencils and triangular eraser (for the same reason).

Stabilo Trio Triangular Jumbo Pencils

It's jumbo size and triangular shape gives a better grip for small hands. Very suitable for preschoolers like mine to learn how to hold a pencil correctly. The thicker lead also minimize breakage and last longer :) For cheeky boys like Raymund who loves to break pencil leads, this works wonderfully for us :) :)

Prewriting Skills for Little Raymund

Every time I coach Ryan, little Raymund wants to join in. I thought that it is a good time as any to start on him too. I have just introduced little Raymund to some easy prewriting exercises. At this stage, I'm trying to get him to draw vertical circles, horizontal lines and circles. Not exactly perfect but a good start. I used a lined exercise book and got him to draw lines between the printed lines. For vertical lines, I would just turn the book 90 degrees. When he managed to draw lines without touching the printed lines, I would praise him, gave him a tick and a star. He has seen how his 'kor kor' Ryan gotten stars for good work and he was happy that he has stars too.

There was once I got him to draw lines... After a while, he closed his book, looked at me, gave a dramatical sigh .. then announced 'Finish already' and walked off. Yes, my little boy tends to be quite dramatic :) and its quite amusing to watch him ... if he doesn't get me mad! At 3 years old, I do not want to sit him for too long. Just to give him a feel about doing 'homework' and studying (he has not started kindergarten yet). And he is too active to sit still.

Raymund can doodle with both left and right hands. I'm not forcing him to use his right hand like some people esp old folks do (some pantang about it, I think). I leave it to what comes natural to him. Personally, I believe left handers are smarter and more creative - or at least my left handed friends are.

I'm about to start him on simple numbers and ABC recognition. Raymund has a good memory. He can recite 1 to 20 and A-Z but yet to recognize the numbers and alphabets. Using the same method with Ryan, I intend to use those 5 inch by 3 inch index cards (see post on 'My Homemade Fashcards' at http://joanne-momsays.blogspot.com/2009/08/my-homemade-flashcards.html) as flashcards to help him. It is gonna be a challenge with my hyperactive Raymund.

Good Learning Session with Ryan Today

Ryan has made good progress with the flashcard method. In my earlier post, I mentioned that I bought this 3in by 5in index cards to make word flashcards for my boy. And I store all the flashcards in this IKEA container with a lid that I bought in the children's section in IKEA. Very handy. Anyway, this part is 'syiok sendiri' only :) What I'm really happy about is that Ryan has shown marked improvement with this flashcard method.

Actually I did some variations to this. For certain familiar words on the flashcards, I get Ryan to write about 10-20 times. Then I would ask him to spell for me without looking at the words. So far so good. Now I'm getting him to try spelling new words by listening to the sound of the words. Slow but progressing. Praising that he is able to spell even new words helps to boost his spirit and interest. I also got him to read the new Clifford Phonics Fun series (see the post on 'Scholastic Books for Early Readers and Young Children') and he gets very excited when he recognizes some words that he knew from the flashcards. He would tell me 'Mummy, this word is in the cards'. At the same time, I would transfer some new words from these books on the flashcards to reinforce word recognition. I'm trying to get him interested in reading and it helps when he realises that he can read. Really proud of it too.

Tonight, I had him spell and write out short sentences for me on lined papers. These are words that he would have seen in the cards and books but now, I told him to string them together and spell them out for me. Not bad! I'm proud of him. I can see that he is a lot more confident now.

I intend to use the same method to teach him Malay. But first, I'd get him comfortable with English first, amongst others.

Just For Cynthia :) - How I Did a Facelift for my Blog

I just simply googled up for resources :)

Actually, I'm no expert at all in blogging. What I usually do is to visit blogs every now and then and see what nice things I can add to my blog. Then, I would google up on the 'How to-s'. There are lots of helpful tips, even from Youtube. I'd just try them out and see if it works for me.

Most important ... before you do anything, save a copy of your blog's html (expanded version) first. If you happen to make a boo-boo, you can still get back your old settings.

About designing the blog. Quite simple really. And it's really fun if you like designing.

Cynthia - I'll be happy to help you if you need :)

There is a short cut - simply google for ready made headers and backgrounds. Then follow the instructions to upload to your blog. In my case, I prefer to design my own where I can include my kids photos and so forth. And I just love to design :). So, I take the longer route.

First thing first, get an image editor software - mine is the Adobe Photoshop - the portable version ie. Adobe Photoshop CS3 Portable. If you don't have, just ask around. I got mine from a friend :). I didn't know how to use it at first. Then I went to Youtube and search for instructions. All you need to know initially is how to apply 'layers' and put photos into frames using the 'magic wand' tool. Then, later you can explore for more.

Now, that takes care of the software part. Next, you may want some decoratives for your design. On my header, you can see flowers, diamonds, ribbons, frames, so on. Where to get? Very easy. Search the web for scrapbook materials - lots of freebies. One very good site is http://www.digiscrapdepot.com/. This site hosts alot of scrap book materials - papers (for background), embellishments, templates, theme kits, etc - for people who would like to do scrap books on their family and children. I use them for my blogs. Just download what you like. So far, so good - no virus. There are many such sites - just take your time to google them up.

Get Nice Fonts! If you want to write something nice on your header and you don't want the normal boring fonts! I chose my favourite fonts from http://www.1001freefonts.com/. Google up for more varieties. Then save it to your PC. Next, call up 'Control Panel' from Settings on your PC. Then save the font in the 'Font' folder. As simple as that :)

Now you can start having fun. Design what you like. Just make sure that the size of the Header and Background suits your blog. My blog uses the Minima Stretch template as base. Through trial and error, I settled on the following sizes for my Header and Background.

Header: 1100 pixels (width) x ~300 pixels (height)

Background: 1500 pixels (width) x 1500 pixels (height)

How then to load the new designs.

FOR HEADER:

Go to 'Customize' ... 'Page Elements'... click 'Edit' on the 'Header' (the 1st box right on top of the layout)... then do this:

1. Browse for the Header image that you just designed (remember to save your design in jpeg format)
2. Under 'Placement' - choose 'Instead of title and description'
3. Save -- done!!

FOR BACKGROUND:

Check out this site for instruction.

http://tips-for-new-bloggers.blogspot.com/2007/03/background-image-for-blogger-template.html

You will need to upload your design to obtain a url for your photo. I use Photobucket at http://photobucket.com/.

Remember I was talking about rotating headers and background? Here is the site for instruction in case you want to try out. I need to design a few more headers for this.

http://www.blogspottutorial.com/2008/10/make-random-header-banners.html

Hope this helps :)

New Look for My Blog

Getting kinda bored with the look and feel of my blog. At the same time, I'm itching to design some backgrounds and headers with my kids latest photos. Initially, I wanted to do the rotating header and rotating background thing but I have to change some html scripting. But no-lah - don't want to mess around with the html too much in case I make a boo boo that I can't correct :). I'm still feeling around the html stuff.

This was my old blog header.

So keeping it simple, I just changed my header and background image. Updated with my kids latest photos. Deleted the original template's header wrapper border - I don't like it anyway.

In case you are wondering where you are, you have landed on Joanne's blog with a recent face lift. Happy reading :) and love to chat with you too.

Legend of the Hungry Ghosts (or 'Mu Lian')

Accordingly to the traditional Chinese belief, the gates of Hell will open for 30 days in the 7th Chinese Lunar month. Ghosts are then free to roam about and some would even cause mischief. In the evenings of the 14th or 15th day (normally), us Chinese would make offerings (paper money, paper clothes and such, food, candles and joss sticks) at the roadside outside our homes in hope that the mischievous wandering spirits would not cause trouble to our family. Chinese families like my in laws would have prepared 'kam ngan yee chee' (paper money and materials) ahead of time - folding paper money into the shape of gold nuggets - to be burnt on such day. On the streets, we can see temporary structures and stages for performances to 'entertain' the spirits'. When I was a little girl, I remember that these performances used to be elaborated Chinese operas set up in front of a Chinese temple. I used to enjoy the shows very much. Nowadays, they are mainly singing performances... a very much watered down version of what it used to be.

During the Hungry Ghosts festivals, it is also important to worship our ancestors. This offering to our ancestors usually precedes the street offerings to the wandering ghosts. We did something extra for my Dad. In the 1st 3 years after my Dad passed away, we put up an altar (table) for my dad in a temple in Melaka for 3 days 3 nights of Buddhist blessings during the 7th month. We had to register months ahead to get a good table for my dad. The monks in the temple would chant blessings for our ancestors in hope to 'lift' their spirit up in their after life. It was believed that the wandering spirits would also gather outside the temple to get some of this blessing. On the last day, all the tablets were put on a huge paper ship to be burnt with our offerings. Meaning... our ancestors would 'sail' back to where they belong. This ritual is still happening every year in this Melaka temple for those who want blessings for their ancestors.

How about the legend. I googled it up and found several versions of the 'Mu Lian' legend. Here is one version from www.essortment.com.

A long time ago, there lived a young man, Mu Lian and his widowed mother. His mother was a wicked woman. She often turned away beggars who came to her door asking for food. She liked to jeer at the working poor and their dirty clothes; in essence, the only person she cared about was herself.

Mu Lian on the other hand was a kind soul. He was a gentle person and always willing to help anybody who was in need. One day he decided to become a monk and this did not please his mother. She scowled at him for being such a useless son; she wanted him to go out and work to earn more money for her. Wealth and materialistic things meant more to her than anything else.

When she saw that she could not dissuade her son, a plan began to hatch in her mind. She decided to play a trick on the monks just to get back at them for taking away her son. Now it was the custom to offer food to the monks (this custom still exists to this very day), but only vegetarian food. Mu Lian’s mother thought that it was nonsensical that these monks did not eat meat, so one day she offered food to some monks and slipped in some non-vegetarian items.

According to one version of the story, the wicked woman was punished immediately and was sent to hell. Mu Lian wanted to save his mother’s soul because he knew her soul was suffering.

He set out and ventured deep into the bowels of hell. Soon he came upon his mother and he saw that she was sitting a bed of very sharp pointy stakes and was holding on to a basin of blood.

Mu Lian tried feeding her some food but the food would either turn into fire or blood. It was hopeless: he couldn’t do anything for her so he left. He returned home and started to pray.

It is said that Buddha heard Mu Lian’s prayers and was touched by Mu Lian’s compassion. Thus Buddha decreed that once a year, the gates of hell be opened so that the lost souls will be able to roam the earth and be fed. This is why every year on the seventh day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar, the Chinese celebrate the festival of the hungry ghost.

Today, The 1st Day of Hungry Ghost Festival

Today is the 1st day of 7th Chinese Lunar Month, otherwise known as the Hungry Ghost Festival. The usual advice is for people, especially children, not to go out too late in case of close encounters of the 'G' kind! I'm particularly careful coz Ryan - believe it or not - gets particularly nervous during the Chinese Lunar 4th and 7th month. And the best part is he doesn't even know anything about the Hungry Ghost Festival.

When Ryan was younger, around 2-3 years old, he would freak out very badly when he visited some places. Once we were at a furniture shop, we went upstairs where it was totally deserted. Out of the blue, my little boy went berserk and ran to a corner. There he cowered and trembled and crying like mad. His eyes was looking all around and he was definitely very frightened. Had no choice but to haul him out of the shop. Since then, he said he didn't want to go to that shop.

Last year, he told me that he was scared because he saw a 'barney monster shadow flying in the room over there'. After a while, he relaxed and said it was gone already. And it was during the 7th month! Gave me the shivers!

So is it true then that some kids could sense and see these other worldly things? Some believe, some don't. I do coz I'm also a sensitive but I try to block it out most of the time. If you are interested, I can 'cerita' my many encounters, haha! But I don't have the third eye, thank God! I know for a fact that my son could see (not all the time though) coz when he said or reacted, it was those times that I myself sense and felt very uncomfortable too. There was once I was alone holding my then 3year old Ryan and working on my PC at home, I sense something at the back of me and I looked behind. I saw a mass of black mist and then it was gone. I didn't show any reaction. Ryan then looked over the same spot and looked frightened and hid his face. I just said loudly ' Please don't disturb us and frighten my son who is very young'. Then it was gone. Just a snippet of my encounters, haha! I'm quite wary if Raymund is just as sensitive. So far, nothing happened. Phew!

Is it then something to be frighten about? Well, of course we can't help being nervous about something which is other worldly. To me, I'm not exactly frightened unless my family especially my children are being threathened or disturbed. I believe that these beings exist parallel with us. As long as they don't 'disturb us, I'm fine. So far so good.

Scholastic Books for Early Readers and Young Children

I just got some really good books for my boys. Ryan's kindergarten would occasionally send out a booklist for discounted Scholastic books for early readers and young children. The books are really affordable and good. This round, I purchased a few more which I think can help both Ryan and Raymund with early reading. I would also like to cultivate a good reading habit amongst my children. Even little Rachel, at 10 months, is particularly interested in books. When she spotted a book, she'd try to reach for it. Probably the colours :)

I particularly like the Clifford series on Phonics Fun. It comes in a pack of 12 books with short interesting stories and colourful pictures. Here are some pictures about it. I have started the reading with Ryan and he seems to enjoy it. I plan to treasure this collection for Raymund and Rachel later.

Ryan loves to draw. Of late, he has been taking books esp about the ocean and try to copy the pictures and create his own masterpiece about the ocean. I found this book about Dinosaurs which teaches children how to draw the different dinosaur species. Dinosaurs are another of Ryan's favourite. Here are some photos about the book too. Not bad :)

Little Raymund loves Barney. He is also fascinated with policemen and police car. So, the booklist offered this Barney book - 'Let's Go Visit the Police Station'. Here it is. Very colourful and suitable for toddlers.

And all these Scholastic books ...

... for a little more than RM100 !! I think it is a pretty good deal.

H1N1 - Worried Sick for my Family

I don't know if this thing about H1N1 is being blown out of proportion or not but it sure scares me like hell. Not so for us adults but more so for my very young children. I have been googling trying to find out more but still getting the same generic info. Particularly high risk to those with medical problems, pregnant ladies, old people and children below 5years -- my children!

The Star news alerts which I subscribed from Maxis is not helping either. I get 'gleeful' death counts and people infected counts on daily basis .. and the number is increasing. What I don't get is what exactly happened. My husband has a doctor friend who actually commented that this H1N1 is not as scary as we think. Could be just a matter of opinion. He told us that the critical and casualties were mainly due to late or no treatment.

Well, whatever the case is, I have a baby and 2 very young boys. Even simple pneumonia is not something to be taken lightly. So, how so to prevent? I really don't know. I have heard that the mask is not really effective too. And how can I expect my 3 year old and baby to wear mask?? Short of becoming a hermit with our own food supply grown in the backyard, there is no 100% avoidance of H1N1... that's a scary thought.

During my recent visit to my doc (I was having a common flu), I had a chat with the doc. About vaccines and so forth. He told me that they are expecting the vaccine to come to Malaysia in Dec 09 and even so, the frontliners (ie hospitals, nurses and docs) will be given priority. By then, a lot more casualties would have happened. And then, there is this uncertainty about new drugs and their side effects. Sigh!

People around us are still traveling - probably because they had a great deal from the last MATTA fair - as well as being sent by their own company. No strict rules around that. Some people who came back visiting high risk countries just went about without self quarantine (in case they are in the incubation period). How irresponsible can you get?? Some companies treat H1N1 positive cases confidentially - no quarantine or even reporting to the Health Ministry. It is no wonder the virus spread!! On the other hand, I have heard some responsible company actually test their staff temperature every day before they get into the office and they have rules around people having flu (H1N1 or not) and travelling.

So I did the little I can do to help my family.

1. Increase Vit C intake (myth or not - I'll talk about this later)
2. For my husband and I - added Vit E and Garlic (Antioxidants)
3. Multi vits for my two boys
4. Appeton Infant drops for my baby girl
5. Scott's Emulsion for my boys
6. Plenty of water
7. People told me to take cooling drinks - eg herbal drinks ('leong sui'), coconut water , barley, fresh fruit juices
8. Double Boiled Snow Frog/'Suet kap' to reinforced the lungs amongst others - see here for recipe: http://www.joanne-momsays.blogspot.com/2009/05/snow-jelly-or-suet-kap-in-cantonese.html)
9. Keeping the house clean with disinfectant (Dettol)
10. Not touching the kids after a day's work until I wash my hands
11. Washing up my kids after a trip out

Now about pneumococcal vaccine, I just don't how true but a friend of mine was given an advice by his doctor to take pneumococcal vaccine to protect against pneumonia. I googled up and found an article about it but it is not exactly conclusive. For kids, the jab which is normally recommended by the pediatrician is Prevenar. But this is not part of the vaccine schedule - just an option and it's quite procey. My kids took it coz they are quite prone to high fever and ear infection to which this vaccine can help. As for the adults, the pneumococcal vaccine is not Prevenar but something else. Gotta ask the doc.

I really hope that this H1N1 thingy will be under control real soon. I get real upset when I hear that a child becomes a victim of the virus.